Bank of Industry Secures €60m EIB Facility to Boost Nigeria’s Cocoa Processing and Chocolate Industry

Nigeria’s push to earn more from its cocoa industry has received a major boost after the Bank of Industry (BoI) secured a €60 million credit facility from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to support local cocoa processing, chocolate manufacturing and dairy value addition.

The funding, announced during the Africa Cocoa Summit in Abuja, is expected to strengthen Nigeria’s agro-processing sector by financing businesses involved in cocoa processing, ingredient production and chocolate manufacturing, while reducing the country’s dependence on exporting raw cocoa beans.

Speaking at the summit, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Bank of Industry, Dr. Olasupo Olusi, said the €60 million forms part of a broader €85 million EIB-BoI financing package. The facility is backed by the European Union under its Global Gateway initiative and is targeted at expanding investment in Nigeria’s cocoa and dairy value chains.

The Africa Cocoa Summit, also known as the Cocoa Value Addition Summit, was organised by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment under the theme “From Bean to Brand.” The gathering brought together government officials, industry leaders and stakeholders from Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon to discuss strategies for increasing value addition across Africa’s cocoa sector.

A key outcome of the summit was the signing of the Abuja Declaration, which established the Cocoa Value Addition Alliance (CVAA). The alliance aims to strengthen regional cooperation and accelerate local processing, branding and industrialisation within Africa’s cocoa industry.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, represented by the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, urged African cocoa-producing nations to move away from their long-standing reliance on exporting raw cocoa beans.

He said the continent must focus on processing cocoa locally, producing finished products and building globally competitive brands that will enable African countries to capture a greater share of the multi-billion-dollar global chocolate market.

The new financing is expected to support that vision by expanding access to capital for manufacturers, creating jobs across the cocoa value chain and encouraging greater investment in value-added agricultural production.